Blizzard! The Storm that Changed America

Through the eyes and words of survivors and victims alike, as well as the careful research for which Newberry Honor Award winner Jim Murphy is known, listeners will experience one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history and understand why and how life in the United States was forever changed.

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Publisher's Summary

On March 12, 1888, hurricane-force winds and unrelenting snow began to bring the East Coast, from Virginia to Maine, to its knees. During the next three days, the Great Blizzard raged out of control, devastating every community in its path.

Through the eyes and words of survivors and victims alike, as well as the careful research for which Newberry Honor Award winner Jim Murphy is known, listeners will experience one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history and understand why, from that day on, life in the United States was forever changed.

Each generation endures Storms of the Century that are promptly forgotten by succeeding generations. This book takes you into the heart of New York and New England for a breath taking tour of a storm that challenged the way we did things back in the late 19th century. One can feel the snap of the wind or the bitterness of the cold in the prose as well as the reading. A fine short read.

I have a great interest in weather, so his lack of information as it related to accumulations of snow, left me a bit empty in the end. Having said that, the author does a wonderful job placing you in the position of each character. Why they decided to go out, why they stayed, and when they risked life to help others. It was a enjoyable, and when the memory of details in the story fade, I will listen to it again.

This is a well written report on the freak blizzard that covered the Northeast in 1888 and brought about changes in the law and in people's habits. Power lines were buried; garbage and manure were no longer allowed to he dumped in the streets and more responsibility was required from the factory owners for their employees welfare. There were stories of fortitude and occasional gallantry as well as a few of sociopaths in human form. Though 125 years have passed many circumstances seem similar to today. Natural disasters serve to remind us that for all of technological advances in our world we're never exempt from the laws of nature. Hurricanes Eileen or Sandy demonstrated that in the northeast in 2011 and 2012. I lived in Boston in the eighties where the blizzard of 1978 had already become legend. It's apropos that nature reminds us occasionally that our power is limited.

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